noun
Harold
HA-ruhld
noun
1
In improvised comedy theatre, a long-form structure in which several scenes, characters, and themes are set up early and then woven back together throughout the show.
"The troupe closed their set with a twenty-minute Harold built from a single audience suggestion."
How to Use Harold
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA specific style of long-form improv comedy where earlier scenes and jokes come back later in the show.
Memory tip
You will mostly meet this word in the context of improv comedy classes and shows, not everyday conversation.
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Harolds plural
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The troupe closed their set with a twenty-minute _____ built from a single audience suggestion.
Etymology
Named, somewhat as an in-joke, after the given name Harold by improv pioneer Del Close, who developed the format at Chicago's iO Theater in the 1980s.